If the rise in the number of Global Refugees by 14% last year according to a UN report is an issue of concern, the inherent implications of the statistics are even more intimidating. The conditions of the refugees in many countries are worsening due to the dread of terrorist attacks still existent in these countries, said the UN Refugee Agency.
In a speech on the World Refugee Day, UNHCR head Antonio Guterres said that immigration has been controlled in some countries to such an extent that it leaves no place for asylum-seekers. The situation turns worse with this revelation, as now the hope of rehabilitation for a refugee is likely to be turned down in most cases, making it harder for him to survive.
Antonio Guterres blamed the international community for not having enough concern for this issue and not rendering enough support.
The condition of refugees is increasing again on a global scale due to the violence in Iraq and Somalia, according to Guterres. The UN estimates suggest that around 44 million people have been rendered homeless due to violence or persecution. Some of them, according to the report, have been forced to flee overseas, whereas others have been dislocated within their own countries. The war in Iraq has displaced 4 million people. 2 million people were internally displaced, and another 2 million people were forced to leave the country.
Nevertheless, the UN has found a silver lining to the cloud. Reasons for optimism exist, they say, as according to statistics, a large number of refugees have returned to their homeland in Sudan, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mr. Guterres is in southern Sudan at the moment, where he finds the refugees returning to Sudan after years of conflict, facing a number of challenges. The people returning from neighboring countries, according to Mr. Guterres, are being very courageous, committed and optimistic to the dream of building their country afresh.
However, the issue of refugees being refused asylum still persists. The main problem, it seems, is of confusing a refugee with a ‘terrorist’. The trauma of violence faced by most of the countries has now left them very sensitive towards providing access and refuge to foreigners. The reason behind the global indifference towards this issue being noticed by the UN can probably be identified in this explanation.
There are countries in which, especially after 9/11, there has been a growing concern with refugees and I think it’s important to say and to repeat they are not terrorists, they are the first victims of terror. But in other countries, on the contrary, we are seeing an extremely generous approach in protection granted to refugees
- said Antonio Guterres.
Guterres identified Sweden and the Netherlands for showing an immensely positive attitude in context of the plight of the Iraqi refugees.
The facts that violence and conflict are the foremost factors causing people from across the globe abandon their homeland. A global consciousness about the refugees and their fate is needed in order to protect and rehabilitate these people. It is all the more important, in this context, to be able to differentiate between the ‘victims of terror’ and the ‘terrorist’.
Via : BBC
